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“ | This is how I see it - every night...!! | „ |
~ Ellen to Hutter about Count Orlok's new house. |
Ellen Hutter is the deuteragonist of the 1922 silent horror film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror and one of the two main protagonists (alongside her husband Thomas) of it's 2024 remake of the same name. She is the wife of the estate agent Thomas Hutter, who goes to the Carpathian Mountains to visit Count Orlok, who is in truth the vampire Nosferatu. When Orlok brings plagues to Wisborg, Ellen reads the Book of Vampires to defeat him. She was based on Mina Harker from the original Dracula novel, which the film is an unofficial adaptation of.
She was portrayed by the late Greta Schröder in the original film and by Lily-Rose Depp in the 2024 remake.
Biography[]
The wife of the estate agent Thomas Hutter, Ellen and her husband live a good life together in Wisborg. When Thomas goes to the Carpathian Mountains to visit Count Orlok and discuss buying a house, she bids him a goodbye. However, it turns out that Orlok is the vampire Nosferatu, and attempts to drain Hutter's blood. Due to Ellen's psychic connection with her husband, she senses this and walks on the balcony's railing while distracting Orlok away, saving Hutter. This however makes her feel ill and faints.
Later on, Hutter escapes Orlok's castle and returns home. Ellen is delighted to see him, while Orlok, who is carrying his own coffin, walks through their house and sees them through the window. Orlok then plots to drain Ellen's blood. Due to Orlok's travel alongside his rats, Wisborg is infected with plagues and several people die in the process, leading to the local authorities declaring a quarantine. Knowing that the vampire is responsible, Ellen reads the Book of Vampire that her husband brought back with him to find a way to defeat Orlok, and finds out that the Nosferatu can be defeated if a pure-hearted woman distracted him with her beauty.
As a result, Ellen willingly lets Orlok bewitch her, causing her to faint. While Hutter is going to Professor Bulwer to ask the latter to check on her health, Orlok comes to Hutter's house and drains her blood, forgetting time in the process. When the sun rises, Orlok attempts to escape, but is caught by the sunlight and evaporates in flames. Ellen then wakes up and calls Hutter's name, and he arrives just in time for her to die in his arms.